I have been listening to the same old politicians, espouse the same old arguments for far too long. A collection of bitter, irrelevant dinosaurs, living in a past best left behind. They do not seek genuine solutions to our problems, they create new ways of stirring the pot.
If we had a party genuinely dedicated to the principles of tolerance, it would be swallowed up by loud mouthed bigots, who know that common sense policies, not driven by irrational fear of “the other lot” would be their nemesis, if it were allowed to flourish.
The divisive rhetoric designed to set ordinary decent people against each other, is cynical manipulation of our tragic past. Deflecting political debate away from the things which matter to us most in our daily struggle, keeps the fools on the hill in power, and laughing all the way to the bank.
Where are the people with new ideas?
I hear them every day on phone-in shows on the radio, complaining about one side or the other. Telling our leaders to get on with the business of taking us out of conflict, to the Shangri-La of a tolerant society. This “silent majority” know that what we need is not on offer from the mainstream parties, who thrive on polluting young minds, by continually raking over the injustices and atrocities of the past. People who have no inclination to hate neighbours they don’t even know, are left in limbo. With no viable alternative to the status quo, they conform, because it makes it easier to fit in.
Then comes election time, the battle lines are drawn, old bigotry and hatred is re-affirmed, the flames of fear re-ignited. Health care; Housing; Education; Job creation; Decent standards of living: These topics are swept aside by a tsunami of bitterness. Unionism and republicanism, are the only topics on the agenda, because the vacuum of division has not been filled with any realistic vision of a better way forward.
Why can’t we create a new vision for our children’s future?
We cannot hope to create a happy future while we keep staring back at the past. We will never move forward until somebody offers a viable alternative to “Orange & Green”. We need to break the mould, create a party with an agenda for the future, not a legacy from the past. Something tangible, with people who are willing to offer solutions to our everyday problems. It would be so uplifting to hear a politician answer a question with what he/she really thinks, regardless of the consequences. It’s called having the courage of your convictions. Instead they spit out the dummy, like a spoilt child because he/she is far more concerned with image than substance. I suggest that if “Orange & Green” disappeared, very few of our incumbent politicians would survive, if the rest of their non-existent policies were put under the microscope.
I hear all the emotive cries about truth and justice, I sympathise with those who suffered. I don’t pretend to know what it is like to lose a loved one in the way so many have in our troubled past. I don’t condone criminality or violence, nobody has the right to inflict pain and suffering on others. The wounds of injustice cannot be healed by vengeance, the search for justice must be separated from politics. Take all political influence out of the picture, let the victims share their grief in a private forum, made up exclusively of those who suffered. Together they can find a way to move on, and in doing so, they will set an example which can help ensure that their children and grandchildren do not have to suffer as they did.
Who is to blame for the failure to bring people together?
We are our own worst enemy, the “silent majority”, (which includes myself) have sat back for years hoping some miracle will change the attitudes of those who rule. If the attitudes, created during our violent past cannot be changed, then it is time to replace our leaders with a new generation of politicians. We need people who will concentrate on creating an inclusive society, where decisions are not influenced by emotional responses, triggered by the opening of old wounds. Where our heritage is respected, but not given a higher priority than our future.
Health care waiting lists growing, those in power go private.
None of the MLA’s are on the housing list, or need to visit food banks to survive.
Children educated in separate schools, reinforcing division in society.
Job creation and decent standards of living cannot be achieved until jobs paying the living wage are the norm. What right minded company would re-locate to a country which is continually de-stabilised by its own leaders.
I travel all around the country with my work, and I have not met anybody who has any faith in the way our country is run. Disillusion has bred apathy, scepticism and cynicism. The recession has added fuel to the flames of discontent.
I have to ask myself, why do we keep electing people who appear to be only interested in self promotion, and feathering their own nest. The default position of the vast majority of these so called leaders is “whatever he suggests, I must oppose”. The fools on the hill indulge in petite squabbles nobody in the real world cares about. While we continue to elect intransigent people, scarred by our violent past, nothing will ever change. Our legacy to our children will be tainted with bitterness and violence. A shiver of fear runs through me, when I think about my seven grandchildren. Will they be the first generation of an enlightened society, or the next victims of belligerent hatred.
